Friday, April 29, 2005

The U.S. military staged the interrogations of terrorism suspects for members of Congress and other officials visiting the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to make it appear the government was obtaining valuable intelligence, a former Army translator who worked there claims in a new book scheduled for release Monday.

Former Army Sgt. Erik Saar said the military chose detainees for the mock interrogations who previously had been cooperative and instructed them to repeat what they had told interrogators in earlier sessions, according to an interview with the CBS television program "60 Minutes," which is slated to air Sunday night.

I think it went something like this. "Okay, as soon as the guys in the suits are in sight, I'm going to take your ice cream away and say, 'I sincerly hate to have to do this to you, Abdul, but there will be no more dessert for you until you tell us where Osama is hiding.' Then you say, 'aiee, infidel dog, your persistent yet humane tactics are too much for me. I will tell you everything you want to know.' Then you give me Michael Moore's home address."